Newport Telephone Plans Second Phase of Broadband Program in New York

The Newport Telephone has announced its plans to invest in the second phase of broadband program in New York. The company will make more than $11.6 million in investments in Fiber to the Home deployments in its existing service territory. The second phase will cover areas of nine townships and is estimated to stretch around 450 kilometers.

As part of Phase 2 of the New York Broadband Program, Newport Telephone will install fiber optic cables directly to homes and businesses in portions of Hamilton, and Oneida counties. Fiber to the home based broadband technologies deliver the fastest, seamless and reliable triple play services as of today.

Construction will commence this summer for the mainline routes and be ready for customer drops in a phased approach starting mid- to late-2018.

The broadband network construction will include more than 450 kilometers of new mainline fiber routes and the enabling of fiber drops to nearly 1,900 homes and businesses. In fiber to the home broadband based on passive optical network (PON), distribution cables pass near the homes. This is done either underground or overhead or as a combination of both depending on the geographical conditions and the right of way. Drop points are set nearest to the subscriber’s premise.

Telephone service in the Newport vicinity of Herkimer County began in 1904 with the availability of service from Herkimer County Telephone Company, which was acquired by Utica Home Telephone Company in 1910. Two years later, the company was acquired by Central New York Telephone Company, which went on to become New York Telephone.

The Vice-President of operations and General Manager of Newport Telephone said in a press release that the company is significantly investing in new technology and it’s network infrastructure, allowing it to provide much faster and even more reliable broadband and other services to rural New York households and businesses in Hamilton, Herkimer and Oneida counties. This investment will afford its rural community growth opportunities that would not exist without broadband access and the company is very excited over the increased capacity and reliability that it will be able to offer to its customers.

The project will capitalize and expand on the knowledge and experience of Newport’s network team, and will add on to its current and operational fiber based network, according to the release.

Using FTTH technology, Newport Telephone will bring these 1,900 homes and businesses the same reliable and robust services that other more populous areas have access to, according to the release.

“This is a game changer, as FTTH connections are the only technology with enough bandwidth to reliably and cost effectively handle projected consumer demands for the upcoming 15 to 20 years,” Jim Becker, chairman of the board of Newport Telephone, said in the release. “Without the New York Broadband Program and Governor Cuomo’s recognition of the importance of broadband infrastructure and the economic challenges of providing these services in rural areas, these solutions would not be available.”